Outbuildings

If you’re planning a new barn on an old homestead or in an historic neighborhood, you should take a look at the Historic American Building Survey for design ideas and details. The HABS offers photos and measured drawings of hundreds of historic barns and outbuildings. They are indexed by location, so you can often find buildings that are appropriate for your site’s weather and vernacular building traditions.

1853 Shaker Church Family Cow Barn, State Route 4A, Enfield vicinity, Grafton County, NH

The HABS is a joint effort of the Library of Congress and the National Park Service. It was started by the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression to offer work to architects and engineers. They were invited to document historic buildings of all types in their areas. The idea was that the records and drawings that they created would be available to future generations, even if the buildings were lost to progress. For the buildings that remained standing, the documents would be a valuable tool for restorers. The extent of the documentation varied greatly from building to building. Some of the old barns are just recorded in photographs. Others have extensive sets of drawings showing floor plans, exterior elevations, timber frames, building details and even details of hand-forged hardware. Most of the material can be viewed online, and higher quality prints can be ordered through the Library of Congress.

The HABS didn’t end with the depression. It’s a work in progress. Preservation minded architects and educators continue to measure and record old structures. You can read more about their efforts to preserve America’s heritage by visiting the website Built in America.

I’ve compiled a list of links to the records of a variety of barns. They span three centuries and show the diversity of American vernacular design. They are just a few samples of the hundreds of barn and outbuilding designs that you can see. Click here to take a look at the list. Then, do your own searches through the vast collection. Make sure to look at the records of historic homes and farmsteads in your area. Many include barns and outbuildings that were on the same properties.

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Are you planning to build a new shed in your backyard? Do you need a secure, closed area for your tools and storage, or an open shelter for firewood, your lawn tractor or your kid’s bikes?

A tool shed and open shelter combined

With the beautiful Colonial-Style Two-In-One Shed, by Better Barns, you’ll have both. It’s one of the most versatile, well-designed backyard buildings you’ll ever find. It has a 10′x12′ tool shed for general storage and an 8′x10′ open-bay extension that’s ideal for keeping firewood stacked and dry. The open area is also great for storing large items that might not easily fit into the main shed, such as lawnmowers, bicycles, patio furniture, wheelbarrows and stepladders.

The shed’s gable roofs are designed to be built with trusses that are made of standard 2×4 lumber with plywood gusset plates at the corners. That means that you can do most of the construction of the roof while working on the ground, not while teetering up on a ladder. The horizontal 2×4s at the bottom of the roof trusses serve as floor joists for a small optional storage loft.

Like the truss roof, the walls of this shed are built more like a barn than like a conventional shed. Horizontal 2×4s strengthen the walls and serve as nailers for vertical siding boards. Although you can use any type of siding, tongue and groove cedar or pine will make this shed look great inside and out.

The editors of Popular Mechanics magazine were so taken by this design that they ran a feature article on it. They included a isometric diagram, details and a step-by-step building guide. Together, that information is all that any experienced do-it-yourselfer or will need to create a copy.

Read more and get your free drawings and building guide >>>

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Free Car Barn Plans from TodaysPlans.com

It’s foolish to build from plans just because they are free. The cost of even the most expensive blueprints are just a tiny fraction of what your overall building cost will be. All stock plans, including the ones that you can download at no cost, need some modification to work perfectly on your site and for your building and zoning code requirements. That means that you, your builder, or an architect or construction engineer who you hire, will have to put in some work time on the plans. Include that, and no plan that you build from is really free.

The most important thing is to find the design that’s just right for your needs, regardless of cost. If you build something that doesn’t look perfect to you, you’ll be regretting it for years, every time you look at it. If you build something that’s just ten square feet bigger than you need, you’ll have wasted the cost of a better set of plans. If you build something that doesn’t add to the appearance and usefulness of your property you’ll be reducing its resale value by way more than the expense of the costliest set of plans. Building anything is expensive, in the cost of materials, in a contractor’s cost, or in the time and labor you put into it. Don’t throw your investment away on poor plans.

The Internet gives you the ability to find just about all of the plans that are available. Take your time and search everywhere. Searches are free. Just a few years back, you’d have to pay a fortune to purchase catalogs and magazines to find a reasonable selection. The Country Home Journal will be presenting new reviews of blueprints and building kits all of the time. So, check back often.

Of course, there’s no reason to exclude free plans from your search. Some are pretty good. There are probably just a couple of hundred of those available, compared to tens of thousands that you can buy. Still, you may just find what you are looking for. It’s easy to search through two hundred plans. Unfortunately, they are scattered across the Internet. Some plan services offer one or two as samples of their offerings. Lumber suppliers and building trade associations have some more. Magazines, like Popular Mechanics and Mother Earth News offer some as “how-to” articles. I’ve compiled a list of links to the free plans that I think are the best, and organizing them into categories, to make it a little easier for you.

Downloadable plan files, like ebooks, are usually Adobe’s PDF file type. That means that you’ll have to have the latest version of the Adobe’s Reader program on your computer. You can download a free copy of that from a link that I placed at the bottom of my list. PDF files also mean that the plans will print on the 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper that’s in your printer. Since most building departments require plans that are scaled to 1/4″ to the foot, most downloadable plans are for small buildings.

You’ll find a lot of sheds and garden structures and some small barns and country outbuildings. You won’t find too many garages, large barns, cabins, houses or passive solar homes, but there are some. Take a look at the list. I hope that it’s of some help. >>>

If you know of good quality plans that I’ve missed, please let me know. Click on the “comments” link above and let me know the name of the web site that hosts them.

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19th century farmstead plans - American Country Building Design

If you’re planning to build or renovate a traditional country building, you can find inspiration in one of the many reprints of 19th and early 20th century plan books. Country cottage, farmhouse, cabin, carriage house, barn and outbuilding plans are fairly easy to re-create because the original buildings were straight­forward. You’ll need to work with an architect or professional engineer because new plans will have to be prepared. The old layouts need to be updated a bit. You’ll probably want indoor plumbing. And, you’ll need accurate blueprints for permits, for construction esti­mates and to build from. The best architect to choose is someone with experience at restoration work, who has a sensitivity for historic proportions and who is familiar with replica­tion materials, details and fixtures.

I’ve put together a list of on-line sources for soft-cover reprints and downloadable ebooks. It includes a shameless plug for my own book of historic farmstead plans. Take a look >>>

If you know of other sources that I’ve missed, Please just click on the “comments” link above and let me know.

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